Girls on the Run-Maine would not be where we are today without the thousands of dedicated volunteers who have given of their time and energy to empower Maine girls. Every once in a while a particularly impactful volunteer joins the organization – we are thrilled to spotlight superstar volunteer Andrea Conley, a 4th grade teacher at CK Burns School in Saco.
Andrea has been the Girls on the Run (GOTR) Head Coach at CK Burns School for seven years. In the winter of 2016 Andrea filled out a new site application, hoping her school would have enough interest to host a team in the spring. Sure enough they did, and Andrea never looked back! With each spring season, Andrea grew the program at CK Burns by recruiting new volunteer coaches and participants. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on GOTR for 2020 and 2021, but in the spring of 2022 Andrea brought GOTR back to CK Burns with 66 participants registered. In the Spring of 2023, the site hosted four teams, with 15 coaches, and 88 participants! While Andrea was the driving force behind the program growth, she is the first to acknowledge her coaching team, “If it wasn’t for the commitment of the other 14 coaches I work with, we would not be able to accommodate such a large number. I am so grateful that I have the support from them and our school.”
Tara Grady-Taylor has been coaching with Andrea since the beginning. In reference to their amazing 2023 season, she said, “We couldn’t have achieved that without Andrea leading the charge. Her ability to lead, organize, recruit volunteers, and otherwise make it easy for the coaches to be a part of the CK Burns GOTR teams is really the magic that makes it possible for us to be a part of this incredible organization.” Andrea Conley’s leadership and dedication has created a Girls on the Run movement in the Saco community.
Not only has Andrea grown the program in her school community, she has also gone above and beyond to ensure that any students who want to participate in the program are able to. This past season there were a number of students who wanted to participate in GOTR, but did not have transportation home afterwards. “Andrea arranged for all of the girls to have the school transportation home from practice so they could participate in GOTR. She worked incredibly hard to give this opportunity to all of the students at our school. Her dedication to expanding the GOTR program at our school has been rewarding for all of us,” said Desiree Dunn, another coach at CK Burns.
When asked what made her want to be involved in Girls on the Run, Andrea said, “I loved that Girls on the Run combines running and empowering young girls with the tools they need to help them deal with all the ups and downs of growing up.” Girls on the Run-Maine and the Saco community are so fortunate to have Andrea, a volunteer who sees value in the GOTR program and is so dedicated to seeing her students succeed. The GOTR Maine staff and board members were thrilled to be able to honor Andrea at the 2023 Sneaker Soiree in September for her hard work and dedication to GOTR.
When asked Andrea to share her GOTR experience, and she shared the following.
1) How did you become involved in GOTR? What made you want to be involved?
My dad got me into running when I was in 4th grade and I have been an avid runner ever since. Running is a lot like life. You have your short term and long term goals, your great days and not so great days and then the satisfaction of being able to accomplish your goals. I loved that Girls on the Run combines running and empowering young girls with the tools they need to help them deal with all the ups and downs of growing up. As a mother of two girls and a teacher to 4th graders, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to bring a program like this to my school. My two daughters have also participated in GOTR programs at their schools and it has been such a great experience for them as well.
2) What led you to expanding GOTR at CK Burns?
In 2017, I decided to start GOTR at our school. I knew that we needed at least 8 girls to have a team, so I was hoping we would get that number. We ended up having 38! The following two years we had around 40 girls participate. When we returned after a two year hiatus due to COVID, 66 girls signed up. And then this past year, we were up to 88! We had 4 teams and 15 coaches (all except for 2 are also teachers at our school). Girls on the Run has become very popular in Saco and I really do not want to turn any of the girls away. If it wasn't for the commitment of the other 14 other coaches I work with, we would not be able to accommodate such a large number. I am so grateful that I have the support from them and our school.
3) What is a highlight from your years of coaching GOTR?
When I thought about this question, so many different highlights popped into my head. Everything from watching the girls complete the 5K at the end of the season to their enthusiasm for planning and implementing their community impact projects come to mind. However, it's a lot of smaller highlights from our practices that I also think of. Seeing the girls cheer each other on, girls sharing how they have used things they have learned from the lessons in their daily lives, girls making connections with each other and also just the amount of fun we have. We only have our GOTR program in the spring, and every day I will pass girls in the hallway asking me when it's going to get started. I love that so many girls are looking forward to our next season of Girls on the Run, and so am I!
The Girls on the Run-Maine Spring 2024 season kicks off on April 1. The CK Burns team, led by Andrea Conley joins more than 50 other schools and communities offering a Girls on the Run team. The season concludes with all Maine GOTR participants coming together to reach their goals at the GOTR 5K on Sunday, June 2 at the Brunswick Rec Center. Volunteers are always needed at this event! To register to volunteer, visit our website at www.girlsontherunmaine.org.